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[TypicalGirls] February 2026 HumanifestX update: Let's get future oriented!
- From: Dina Hornreich <hornreichdina AT gmail.com>
- To: undisclosed-recipients:;
- Subject: [TypicalGirls] February 2026 HumanifestX update: Let's get future oriented!
- Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2026 11:03:48 -0500
Dear Friends (new and old):
I have been homeless for about four years, and I continue to experience adversity compromising my wellness and recovery from poverty.
My efforts to receive more comprehensive clinical supports are often dismissed even though they involve exposures that are: viral, bacterial, fungal, and other similarly potential ailments due to involuntary exposure to contaminated food/water, sexual assault, second “smoke” inhalation, bodily fluids at the shelter (blood, urine, semen, mucus, saliva, etc,) and similar forms of negligence, abuse, and deliberate indifference throughout the system.
I have been immunocompromised with thyroid and alopecia disorders since the onset of puberty which means that the absence of hair on my head, arms, legs, eyes, nose, ears, underarms, pubic area, etc. often leaves me unprotected since mammals have hair for warmth and protection as a biological imperative. These are not exclusively psychiatric issues, but they clearly impact my mood, feelings, and emotional wellness overall.
This has perpetuated itself for years as I have been in shelters in NYC, CT, and MA. I was even thrown in “jail rehab” under false medical pretenses involving fabricated data and similar coercive tactics for unnecessary psychiatric treatments based upon testimony that was exploitative and otherwise misleading. (I actually had COVID rather than a psychiatric disorder involving addiction or mental health issues; I can only suspect that the “sniffling symptoms” were likely misconstrued as some kind of amphetamine habit?!)
In the time since then, my menstrual cycle has been thrown off in all its phases (luteal, follicular, ovulatory, and menstrual) including a painful missed period last November after being treated at the “wellness house” (beit refuah) behind Thornes Marketplace in Northampton, MA (hands, feet, legs, ears, and belly). The ongoing pains in my pelvis and abdomen are moderate and varying but tend to increase depending on the phases of my menstrual cycle. This experience has changed in intensity, frequency, duration, color, and other qualities but seems to suggest PCOS which is difficult to diagnose and treat.
As such, I understand how notions of “Fatalism and Hopelessness” affect our perceptions of reality impacting our daily habits and similar decision making criteria such as:
the risk of dying at an uncommonly young age suggested by levels of suicidality (e.g., thoughts and attempts)
engagement in violence
substance use
unexpected/unplanned pregnancy
accidental injury
poorer mental health status
increased exposure to violence
involvement in risk behaviors
poorer social connections (to family, school, the neighborhood, etc.)
police arrest
unsafe sexual activity
HIV positive diagnosis
And we experience such devastating outcomes, we are forced to ask ourselves how we can better develop a future orientation? As such, it shows how recognizing the ways in which “Time Perspective” affects our everyday realities as it relates to our feelings about the past, present, and future.
This can be approached by looking on these Six Dimensions:
Self-Acceptance
Personal growth as a series of lifelong opportunities
Purpose in having a meaningful life
Environmental mastery and otherwise feeling in control
Autonomy and self-direction
Positive relations with others by establishing warm, close, and trusting social connections
We might consider psychological wellbeing as integral to our sensitivities for gratification and other “rewards” (which contrasts with an awareness of the consequences) in decision-making processes with regard to socio-cultural rules, norms, protocols, policies, procedures, customs, rituals, etc. (for both long and short-term outcomes).
As such, notions of “Hope and Optimism” might suggest that levels of stability & healthcare seeking behaviors over time should relate to ideas of “Possible Selves” which includes both positive and negative images for the future in relation to improved practices and/or reductions in “disruptive” behaviors.
This of course should include “career prospects” involving a sense of cynicism/optimism about work & similar longitudinal impacts of social support involving: professional/vocational identity and career maturity. And then we might further ponder these ideas which are suggestive of “Delay Discounting” and similar preferences for an immediate reward (offering outcomes of lesser value) compared to delayed rewards (offering outcomes of higher value) so that we can develop a stronger “Belief in the Future” which is the extent for application (minimally) of lifelong aspirations.
If we want to prioritize better long term outcomes during an economic, political, historic, etc. period of upheaval (as COVID has been) then we need to recognize the value of long-term rewards over immediate gratification of needs, wants, and desires. While there are circumstances that clearly warrant immediate action, we should try to recognize how certain phenomena have prevented us from looking at those bigger picture questions. In this new era of clickbait and cancel culture, it seems easy to get hooked on instant downloadables whose content offer “immediate” results. But should we take the first offer we get - or can we hold out for our best options in the long run (and endure substantial hardship along the way to avoid compromising the integrity of those endeavors).
I often try to weigh my discernible options; usually by trying to have a list of “top 5 choices.” I don’t expect to get my first choice, but if I’m able to reach something amongst that “top five” zine, then I must be doing OK?! What should we prioritize when waiting a very long time for a desirable outcome: are we able to focus on both the process and the outcomes? Will the ends justify the means? Are we still repeating our mistakes or are we trying to learn from new/different trials and tribulations on this journey?
By trying to be older and wiser, I strive to more actively revisit my ongoing evolving criteria and similar meta-heuristics just to validate mundane decisions (especially when I’m waiting and agonizing for any outcome, response, or answer). I know that pain and suffering often teaches us to appreciate the times when life is frequently less challenging; but we might simply try to accept our current place/position and otherwise try to better recognize the existence of thresholds, limits, and similar “breaking points.”
By trying to stay humble, we can remember that place/position throughout these challenging situations; in order to stay focused on the values that inform our mission, vision, and purpose. I continue to reflect on what I have foolishly allowed to remove myself from better articulating those efforts over the years; and I have realized what/who has helped me minimize those unwanted distractions in order to stay more hopeful rather than fatalistic.
Once we have returned to the path that we know will yield the best opportunities for ourselves in the long run, it is easier to remain focused on what we need, want, and deserve in the future. People who missed out on those kinds of opportunities earlier on in their lives might not have the same long term results on their journeys; and I continue to be humbled as I ponder all those who stumbled, fell, and otherwise got left behind (including myself). It truly can be a cruel and painful world!
And when striving for wisdom, we often get ridiculed and mocked; and that realization involves an understanding that suggests how overcoming so much devastating adversity is entirely part of that whole process! (You can’t put that “stuff” in a bottle - or otherwise manufacture it for immediate consumption in the form of candy, soda, cigarettes, pills, etc.)
But when you surrender to the journey as its own destination, then we are forced to accept the ways in which these opportunities (from devastating experiences) can strengthen our resolve. This includes embracing those wounds of passion and otherwise recognizing the significant purpose that pain and suffering often serves! Everything we know seems to exist in contrast to other elements; as we seem to navigate through multipolar/pluralistic realities.
How do we negotiate the inevitable conflicts that this situation continues to invite in order to prioritize aspects of those six dimensions within a future orientation? It takes a lifetime to master these ideas; and I recognize that being a non-binary Jewish feminist has uniquely positioned my resolve to focus on these specific issues for myself (and those whom I’m finding all around me). After all, I am just another hideous hairless Hebrew hag at the end of it all; but I fully recognize the implications suggested by a certain level of “self-acceptance” since I already made it to the age of fifty in 2025.
As I begin to flex my future orientation muscles, I am pondering sustainability as I am learning more about: The Last Plastic Straw and the Plastic Pollution Coalition https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/the-last-plastic-straw-movement.
So please don’t forget that “National Skip the Straw Day” is on February 27, 2026!
Thank you for reading, and (as always) please be well!
-Dina
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/NAMP:_Not_Another_Marketing_Ploy
linkedin.com/in/dina-hornreich-113a79283
medium.com/@dina-hornreich
413-315-0485
c/o FOH & CSO @29 Industrial Drive East, Northampton, MA 01060
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Advocating for better consumer safeguards and sustainable
economic reform in the age of surveillance capitalism for "wising up" from rationality to morality in this emerging "Conceptual
Age."
Stopping the epidemics of misinformation, disinformation, & malinformation (propaganda)
from disrupting our information, media, & technology (IMT) ecosystems by
facilitating the effective, appropriate, & ethical comprehension/production
of IMT artefacts on our journeys toward integrative recovery & holistic
wellbeing.
Facilitating the acquisition of lifelong literacies, instead of reinforcing the perception that "natural vulnerabilities" are "permanent deficiencies," as a community of learners struggling to fight the onslaught of unhealthy messages generated by practices which condone/promote the exploitation of typical human fallibilities reinforcing the greedy, violent, and misogynistic approaches of a plutocratic tyranny who resorts to criminalizing, pathologizing, and otherwise blaming the victims of their wanton ludicrousness.
Alerting
consumers to the impact of numerous illusions and other deceptive
efforts that turn our individual differences into manufactured
deviations (and other forms of "learned helplessness"); thereby
revealing systemic injustices that are perpetuated by ongoing
inequitable power dynamics (i.e. colonialism) and other accessibility
barriers to the basic resources that support our universal human needs,
wants, & desires.
Building a taskforce of nonviolent communicators who are:
- Promoting an informed, engaged, & wise global citizenry and participatory transnational Democracy. (cf: listography)
- Elevating “Conceptual Age” skills (design, story, symphony, empathy, play, & meaning) in order to remedy the shortcomings of residuals from the preceding "Information Age" and "Industrial Age."
- Preventing media pollution, information poverty, & “techno-lust” from further disrupting our social, cultural, political, & economic ecosystems.
- Championing mindful “meta-literacies” (i.e. becoming adept bullsh*t detectives) involving the creation, selection, organization, presentation, diffusion, consumption, & preservation stages for "processing" IMT artefactual innovations.
- Adopting the principles of "Data Feminism": Examining power; challenging power; elevating emotion & embodiment; rethinking binaries & hierarchies; embracing pluralism; considering context; and making labor visible.
- [TypicalGirls] February 2026 HumanifestX update: Let's get future oriented!, Dina Hornreich, 02/03/2026
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